The province has been inhabited since ancient times, and there are numerous megalithic monuments. The site of the town was originally a Roman station and fort, Tingartia. The Jedars near Tiaret are evidence that the province was inhabited in Late Antiquity by a tribe or tribes that could build in stone.

Tiaret grew up as a site under the domination of petty Berber tribal kingdoms; the first of these being the Rustamid dynasty between 761 and 909 when Tiaret served as the capital of the area. However, this capital may have been 10 km (6 or 7 miles) west of the present-day Tiaret. It was first founded by Abd al-Rahman Rustamid, an Ibadi theologian from Greater Iran. Tiaret was said to be relatively free-thinking and democratic, being a centre for scholarship that permitted a wide range of sects and movements, notably the Mu'tazila. There were many Jews living in the area until at least the 10th century, including the scholar and doctor Judah ibn Kuraish who became the doctor to the Emir of Fes.

Tiaret occupies a strategic mountain pass at 3,552 feet (1,083 m), and was thus a key to dominating the central Maghreb. Later, from the start of the 8th century, it was the key northern terminus of the West African branch of the slave trade. As such, it offered a lucrative income from taxes on the trade, and was a desirable prize.

From the year 911 Tiaret was fought over by a number of tribes, being first captured by Massala ibn Habbus of the Miknasas in the year 911, in alliance with the Fatimid Caliphate. Finally, in 933, it was in the hands of the Fatimids. After 933 Tiaret ceased to be the capital of a separate state. Most of the population was banished to Ouargla and then escaped to the inhospitable M'zab.[3] From 933 Tiaret attracted many Khawarij Muslim settlers from Iraq.

The modern town of Tiaret is built around a French redoubt of 1845. The new town attracted many settlers from France and the area flourished. A 200 km (120 mi) narrow gauge railway arrived in 1889, connecting the town to Mostaganem - today, this rail line is defunct.

Thirty kilometres (18 miles) S.S.W. of Tiaret are the sepulchral monuments known as the Jedars. The name is given to a number of sepulchral monuments placed on hill-tops. A rectangular or square podium is in each case surmounted by a pyramid. The tombs date from the 5th to the 7th century, and lie in two distinct groups between Tiaret and Frenda.

At Mechra-Sfa ("ford of the flat stones"), a peninsula in the valley of the river Mina not far from Tiaret, are said to be 'vast numbers' of megalithic monuments.